Organizing operations in swimlanes

Swimlanes and pools are used to organize process diagrams and their contents:

Swimlanes:
Divide the process diagram into horizontal areas that you can use to organize the items on the process diagram. Swimlanes are used to improve the readability of process diagrams and have no effect on their execution.

Pools:
The collection of swimlanes of a process diagram. The process editor in which process diagrams are displayed contain the entire pool.

Use swimlanes to organize your process diagrams in any way to best satisfy your needs. For example, you may want to use swimlanes to organize the operations in the process by business unit. Each swimlane represents a different business unit, and the operations are placed in the swimlane according to the business unit that completes the operation.

The following illustration includes operations in the General swimlane if a user from any business unit can perform the operation. The Procurement Office swimlane includes an operation that invokes a subprocess that is performed by that business unit.

    Adding, modifying, and deleting swimlanes

    In your pool, you can add swimlanes to separate elements associated with a specific company function or role. You can modify the name, description, or color to distinguish one swimlane from another. You can also increase the height of a swimlane to improve the layout or decrease it if the default size is larger than you need.

    You can also delete swimlanes that you no longer need in your process diagram. When you delete a swimlane, all elements in the swimlane are also deleted.

    Hinweis: Each pool must have a least one swimlane.

    Add a swimlane above or below the selected swimlane:

     In the process diagram, right-click the name of the swimlane, and then select one of these options:

    • Insert a Swimlane > Above Selected Swimlane

    • Insert a Swimlane > Below Selected Swimlane

    Modify a swimlane:

    1. In the process diagram, click the name of the swimlane to modify.

    2. In the Process Properties view, click the General category and make any of these modifications:

      • To modify the name or description of the swimlane, type a new name in the Name box and a new or changed description in the Description box.

      • To modify the height of the swimlane, type a numeric value in the Height box.

      Hinweis: You can also drag the edge of a swimlane up or down to resize it.

      • To modify the color of the swimlane, click the ellipsis button beside the Color box, click a color swatch, and click OK.

        Hinweis: The color you choose may not be displayed in the process diagram exactly as it appears in the color swatch. The color displayed is automatically adjusted to maximize the readability of the process diagram.

    Delete a swimlane:

     In the process diagram, perform one of the following tasks to delete the swimlane:

    • Right-click the name of the swimlane and select Delete.

    • Select the swimlane and in the toolbar, click Delete , press the Delete key, or select Edit > Delete.

    Modifying pools

    You can modify the name and description of a pool. You can give the pool a distinctive name and provide a description to better describe the purpose of your process. The name you provide for the pool is displayed in the process diagram.

    Modify the name and description of the pool:

    1. In the process diagram, click the pool.

    2. In the Process Properties view, click the General category and provide a name and description:

      • In the Name box, type a name to replace the default name POOL.

      • In the Description box, type a description for the pool.